The Texas Supreme Court Friday ended an eight-year legal battle between Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners over a proposed partnership in a pipeline project. In a unanimous opinion, the court effectively wiped out a $535 million judgment, saying the two companies never fully executed their partnership agreement in the first place.
Voices: The NDTX Bench Bar
The annual Bench Bar Conference for the Northern District of Texas last week was a non-stop crush of candid judicial observations and advice litigators ignore at their risk. Here’s a sampling of what attendees heard.
Fifth Circuit Upholds $62.9M Arbitration Ruling Against Chinese Wind Farm Investor
In a sharply-worded decision, the appeals court tells a Chinese company it can’t avoid the consequences of an agreed-upon arbitration by simply ignoring it. The beneficiaries include Dallas-based alternative energy investors.
Ninth Circuit Dismisses Claims that Diet Soda Kept Plaintiff Obese
A federal appeals court put plaintiffs’ lawyers on a monetary diet Monday when it affirmed a lower court’s decision to toss a lawsuit that claimed Dr Pepper/Seven Up falsely led consumers in California to believe that Diet Dr Pepper could help them lose weight. The opinion also provided an unexpected vocabulary lesson on the word ‘diet.’ Natalie Posgate explains.
Appellate Year-in-Review: The Fifth Circuit and SCOTX
In the appellate world, 2019 was an interesting year. The Fifth Circuit and Texas Supreme Court resolved important questions of federal and state law, providing clarity on legal standards and raising new questions to be decided in the coming years. The Fifth Circuit, for example, ruled that the TCPA does not apply in federal diversity cases, refused to limit the scope of attorney immunity and expounded upon the detail required for findings of fact.